Podcast 378

Mercury Retrograde. Astrologists say when Mercury goes ‘retrograde’ it wreaks havoc with mechanical and electronic equipment, makes communications difficult and puts teeth in Murphy’s Law. In this case ‘retrograde’ means to go backwards. Now, Mercury does not go backwards; its orbit around our sun does not change one iota, but it supposedly ‘appears’ to be moving backward in the sky. What does a mercury retrograde do to a fifteen year old ambulance, repurposed as a mobile podcast studio, traveling across the country? Listen to this podcast and find out. From Illinois to Indiana, visiting an old friend, with ambitious plans to install Ham and CB radio communications, and WIFI Antenna. Attempting to this, we encountered nothing but problems. Oddly enough, Mercury Retrogrades are supposed to be good for making plans and catching up with old friends, finding good deals, and resting up. While most women seem to have a hundred ‘best friends’, men pretty much have two, or one. It’s great to hang out with someone who has known you since you were a kid; someone you haven’t talked to in decades, but you pick up right where you left off. Lest some readers decry all this reliance on astrology, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the hokum of the stars and the hokum of today’s economists, who despite accolades, fur hats, and purple capes, can’t seem to figure out whether the US economy is growing, not growing, or contracting. Even worse, every ‘news’ story you read on the subject seems to repeat one fairy tale or outright lie, over and over again. Don’t worry though, no one’s looking at economic stories, they’re too busy counting the Republican candidates for President and getting lost in the details of a presidential campaign that has come too early, and too loudly for any civilized people. While the news media covers this political circus, the real political circus is about to pass a trade law — supported by the “Chambers of Italian Fascism” — Americans are forced to turn to Julian Assange and Wikileaks for the details, which suggest a far reaching agreement bigger than NAFTA with provisions that have little to do with free trade. How is your congressman voting? While the FBI circles over our cities in unmarked civilian planes, listening to our cell phone conversations, and Republican congress is also about to pass a ‘patch’ that will save Obama Care if key provisions are struck down by the US Supreme Court. Hey wait! Didn’t republicans run on repealing the ACA? Surprise! Sponsored by X Government Cars.  

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Podcast 377

Summer 2015 Road Trip Part 1. A midnight ride to Iowa, with the first leg ending at Walcott Iowa’s ‘Iowa 80 Truck Stop’ where we encountered the first blush of Internet Upload problems. While I usually don’t write these podcast notes in the first person I have to break format to suggest that a real problem with traveling and ‘untethering’ is spotty Wireless Internet Service, particularly at Truck Stops. Iowa 80 gets points for allowing free access to their WIFI, but when you start uploading huge audio files, it becomes impossible to file. Starbucks used to require people to sign in with AT&T Wireless Service (blah blah blah) but figured it out. It’s free, and its fast downloading and uploading. Unfortunately, in the desert that is Central Illinois and Eastern Iowa, there aren’t many Starbucks. So, Kudos to the Sapp Brothers Truck Stop near Peru, Illinois. I was able to get this package uploaded and posted by around noon central Wednesday. Anyway. Lots of energy and enthusiasm for this trip out east, to the Atlantic Coast, with stops in Illinois, via Kentucky, Tennessee, Southwestern Virginia, onto Richmond, and Washington DC. Bored with the Bruce Jenner changeling story, as the moon rose over the fecund fields of Iowa last night, I began to wonder whether ‘The People of Iowa’ really deserve all the attention their getting in the media, because they hold the ‘first in the nation Caucus’, in 2016. What has become a cliche of American politics; The Diner photo op, the chat with the farmer by the barn, the waving fields of amber, is abundant in Iowa. What happens when an honest, real population becomes aware they’re on the Truman Show, as politicians and Media caravan all over this state? Lots of federal largesse evident in Iowa from Wind Farms to Bio Diesel. Is this good? Is Iowa, with its farms and burgeoning small cities, aspirational? 100 years ago most Americans lived in rural, small towns and cities. Does Iowa represent a desire to get back to that kind of bucolic existence or is it just that they have the first major political contest in what is becoming an insane circus called the Presidential Election of 2016? Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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Podcast 374

Dandelion Fire. Usually I don’t write podcast liner notes in the first person, but this podcast starts with a bit of my frustration with politics at this time. The actual presidential election is in 2016, but the way candidates and potential candidates are being covered, you would think it was next week. Can you imagine how sick and tired we will all be of this, in November of 2016? What’s the reason for all this coverage? A score or more of ‘candidates’ on the republican side. Most of which haven’t a prayer, but that doesn’t stop them. These Republican candidates are kind of like Ray Donovan’s father, Mickey. At the beginning they’re kind of fun, and very quickly you just wish they would leave. The first republican ‘presidential’ debates are scheduled for this August. THIS August. Meanwhile, while it can be said democrats have an uphill struggle for the presidency in 2016, losing an incumbent president, and the 2014 off year elections, there’s really only one democrat anyone in this country sees on a day to day basis. Analysts have seemingly missed the tremendous value Hillary Clinton will gain from her face, voice, words, and activities being covered 24/7, and talked about by republicans bent on her destruction. No wonder she has the highest name recognition of any candidate. What is the republican strategy with all this? Who knows. I don’t think they know. With Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindahl, John Kasick and Lindsay Graham about to add their names to the list, the republican presidential field is starting to look as big as congress itself! The new US Attorney General says Soccer in the US is corrupt. Meanwhile, in Minneapolis a rich businessman is trying to get taxpayers to foot the bill for a soccer stadium. Why is it you never hear inequality discussed when it comes to sports stadia? The Pedal Pub Stupidity continues in Minneapolis, with those arrested after they showed their ‘hate’ for pedal pubs by attacking one carrying a raft of off duty Burnsville Police Officers, using high velocity squirt guns and water balloons. Now comes the charges of abuse and – shock – profanity! And the blame of social media, from the University of Minnesota. Who’s to blame? The knuckleheads that thought attacking pedal pubs was a good idea. Those arrested were all adults in their twenties, thirties and forties. Some will be charged with felonies. Hopefully they will have a chance to mature in the work house. The Tribune screams, ‘Bridge Collapse’. A rail road bridge, that was on fire, in Northern Minnesota, had to be destroyed. Wait for the recriminations about ‘infrastructure’. Just remember, the Keystone Pipeline would have taken the pressure off rail to haul oil from North Dakota and Canada. Finally, a discovery about those white, snowflake like dandelion seed pods floating through the air. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.  

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